My first rifle was a .243,
Papa gave Daddy and Daddy gave to me,
And they taught me how to shoot with a steady hand,
I guess that’s something you don’t understand.
Now I grew up on a prison farm,
Sneaking pulls of shine from a mason jar,
Used to go fishing out pickle creek dam,
But I guess that’s something you don’t understand.
Grandma’s in the kitchen;
Papa’s done passed on;
We’d sit out on the front porch,
Just a pickin’ on a song;
And there’s blood on the table,
‘Cause we work for what we have;
And I was raised in this land,
I guess that’s something you don’t understand.
I still fly that southern flag,
Whistlin’ Dixie loud enough to brag,
And I know all the words to simple man,
I guess that’s something you don’t understand.
Pledge my allegiance the original way,
Say “Merry Christmas” not “Happy holidays”,
I can’t change my ways I know who I am,
I guess that’s something you don’t understand.
Grandma’s in the kitchen;
Papa’s done passed on;
We’d sit out on the front porch,
Just a pickin’ on a song;
And there’s blood on the table,
‘Cause we work for what we have;
And I was raised in this land,
I guess that’s something you don’t understand.
They’ll grind us up in a big machine;
They’ll feed us all on the same beliefs,
Holy dollar and a credit card;
But we got a way of doing things,
And no bankers gonna steal from me;
They wanna tear it all apart.
Grandma’s in the kitchen;
Papa’s done passed on;
We’d sit out on the front porch,
Just a pickin’ on a song;
And there’s a Bible on the table,
‘Cause he bled for what we have,
And that’s the ballad of a southern man,
I guess that’s something you don’t understand.
My first rifle was a .243,
Papa gave Daddy and Daddy gave to me.